In the practice of clinical medicine and surgery, numerous situations arise in which it is desirable to determine or monitor the core body temperature of a human or veterinary patient. Various devices have heretofore been proposed for use in measuring or monitoring core body temperature, including intravascular thermistors or temperature probes that may be inserted into blood vessels to measure or monitor the temperature of blood flowing through such blood vessels.
In recent years, endovascular heat exchange catheters and related apparatus have been developed for heating or cooling the bodies of patients and/or for maintaining the patient's core body temperature within a desired temperature range. Examples of such endovascular heat exchange catheters and related apparatus include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,208 (Ginsburg), PCT International Publication WO 00/10494 (Machold et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 6,264,679 (Keller et al.), PCT International Publication Nos. WO-00/10494 (Radiant Medical, Inc.) and WO 01/58397 (Radiant Medical, Inc.), all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. In some instances, the core body temperature of the patient is monitored and such monitored core body temperature is used as a basis for feedback control of the heat exchange catheter so as to maintain the patient's body temperature within a pre-set or desired temperature range. Examples of such feedback control systems are described and/or claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,003 (Ginsburg) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,673 (Ginsburg) and PCT International Patent Publication No. WO-00/10494 (Radiant Medical, Inc.), which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Although the prior art has included various types of indwelling temperature measuring devices, none of those prior art devices are believed to be optimally designed for use in all patients and all clinical conditions. Specifically, there exists a need in the art for an introduce sheath/temperature probe assembly whereby a tubular introducer sheath may be inserted into a blood vessel and a temperature measuring probe may be inserted through that introducer sheath for the purpose of measuring or monitoring the temperature of the patient's blood flowing through the blood vessel into which the introducer sheath is inserted.